Aspley Guise Primitive Methodist Chapel
Bedfordshire
Aspley Guise is situated on Aspley Hill, part of the Greensand Ridge. This part of the village was known as Hogsty End, later renamed Woburn Sands. It is close to Watling Street and on the Bedford to Bletchley Railway.
The first registration of a Primitive Methodist chapel in Aspley Guise was made on 27 November 1849 by Henry Yeates, minister in Newport Pagnell. Other names mentioned are; Benjamin Herbert and William Mayne.
The 1851 Religious Census return was made on Sunday 30 March. A return for Aspley Guise PM was made by James Ford, minister. This stated that the building had been erected in 1849 and had 100 Free Sittings and 60 Other. The General Congregation that day was 70 in the afternoon and 100 in the evening.
In The story of Aspley Guise, Joan Christodoulou states that ‘it was two tradesmen, miller Durrant and timber merchant Whitlock who carted all the materials for the new chapel.
The former Aspley Guise PM chapel closed in the 1960s and Aspley Hill became part of Buckinghamshire in 1965.
Sources and References:
Bedfordshire Chapels and Meeting Houses: Official Registration 1672-1901 Volume 75 Bedfordshire Historical Record Society – Edited by Edwin Welch
The Ecclesiastical Census, Bedfordshire, March 1851 Volume 54 Bedfordshire Historical Record Society – Edited by DW Bushby
The story of Aspley Guise – Joan Christodoulou
Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Record Service – Community Archives website
Comments about this page
Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands had separate PM chapels. The chapel in this article was the Aspley Guise chapel in Aspley Hill. The Bedfordshire Community Archives website explains that this part of Aspley Guise was transferred into Buckinghamshire in 1965 http://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityArchives/AspleyGuise/PrimitiveMethodismInAspleyGuise.aspx
The Primitive Methodist Magazine of March 1854 contains an account by John S Brown of the opening of what he calls Woburn Sands Primitive Methodist chapel on January 1st 1854. Is this the same chapel in the picture above?
“Three useful sermons” were preached by J Petty of London and on the following day a “very highly respectable tea party” was held. The chapel “is said to be the the most substantial and the neatest dissenting place of worship for several miles around.”
Reference: Primitive Methodist Magazine March 1854 p 177
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